Reputations in wrestling go a long way sometimes. Dynamite Kid, the 5'8" 225 pound wrestler from England, was one of the toughest guys in wrestling history from the time he started in the mid-1970s to his run in WWE with the British Bulldogs in the late 1980s. He wasn't a breakout star in WWE in singles because he only made it as a tag wrestler, but he had a legendary feud with Tiger Mask in Japan that people still talk about today. It's pretty amazing that those matches from Japan in the early 1980s are still relevant over 30 years later. Kid worked a very physical style. Mick Foley told a story about one of his first matches was against the Bulldogs and he took a beating during it. He likely wasn't the first or last wrestler that had to deal with Kid & Smith like that. It was Kid that brought the pain more often. He had a bit of a rep of a jerk too, but he also had respect for the guys that could take a beating the way that Foley could. Sadly, Kid has been confined to a wheelchair since 1997 and isn't a celebrated former WWE wrestler the way he should be. He really did influence a lot of wrestlers with his mix of physical style wrestling as well as technical skill and speed. If you read stories about Kid or just watched him wrestle, you know he really was one of the toughest guys in wrestling history.
John wrote at WhatCulture from December 2013 to December 2015. It was fun, but it's over for now. Follow him on Twitter @johnreport. You can also send an email to mrjohncanton@gmail.com with any questions or comments as well.
